Imaginary
by lilaclily00
Summary: One-word-prompt given by Scaehime! Ed never saw this coming... because he refused to turn around.


**Here's a Thanksgiving treat! This was my third and most successful attempt to use the prompt "Imaginary". I have also used a secondary prompt from BeansproutMidget, "Sugar cookies".**

**On with the story!**

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><p>Edward walks down the sidewalk leisurely with his brother, Alphonse, by his side. He has his hands in his pockets and a blank expression. They pass by an alley when Ed freezes.<p>

"...Brother?" A concerned Al calls, seeing his sibling just standing there. After a few seconds he's about to try again, but is immediately shushed by an automail hand. They wait a few more seconds before Ed slowly starts walking again.

"What was that about?" the armor asks in confusion.

"I thought I heard something. Or someone," he replies cryptically, trying to act normal. Al, however, can clearly tell he is on edge now.

"Should we be worried?"

"Nah, I don't think so," he blatantly lies. Suddenly, he freezes again, and his eyes are a bit wider this time. "Al, should I turn around?" he says quietly, just loud enough for his brother to hear.

Alphonse takes a sneaky look over his shoulder and replies, "I don't think so. I don't see anyone."

"Are you sure? I swear someone is whispering something." He once again starts to walk, now hurrying up.

"Really? I'm not hearing anything." The younger Elric wonders how many times they're going to stop and go, and if their actions are worrying anyone.

Ed jumps and shivers for a moment, then walks faster again. "It _can't _just be me. I'm not even sure what the heck they're saying."

Alphonse stays silent as he thinks and catches up with Ed. "What if it _is _just you? Remember that imaginary friend you used to have?"

"Are you kidding me, Al?! Making jokes _now,_ especially stupid ones like that?" He veers around litter on the street.

"I mean, from what I remember, he would whisper stuff to you and follow you around, right?" He is the one to shiver this time. "Now that I think about it, that guy sounds really creepy."

"_That guy_'s name was Neil," Ed mutters, "and I doubt my old imaginary friend is coming back to haunt me or something." He pauses one more time, and once he stays quiet long enough to try to understand what is being whispered, he yelps and full-on sprints down the street, surprising his metallic partner and other people on the sidewalk.

"What did they say?!" Al yells to his brother as he effortlessly catches up.

"HIS NAME IS NEIL!" he screams.

They run a few blocks into a quiet neighborhood and sit behind a random tree, where Ed attempts to catch his breath. He physically seems to start calming down, but not much.

"What's going on here?" Alphonse asks to no one in particular.

"Neil is taking his revenge because I abandoned him a long time ago!" he breathes back.

"Do you think so?"

"I mean, he's the only Neil I know-"

"As if you know a lot of people," Al mutters.

"-and he has a motive! And I haven't thought of him in years, so I'm not just imagining him up again!" Ed freezes, fear written across his face, probably hearing a whisper again. "He's closer," he mouths out silently to his brother.

"What did he say this time?" Al mouths out back, but gets no reply. With an audible gulp, Ed slowly starts to look over his shoulder, and is shocked to see...

Havoc?

The Lieutenant wears a huge sharky grin as he whispers loudly,_ "Try one of Grandma Nellie's famous sugar cookies."_ He shoves a cookie into Ed's face, who is too flabbergasted to respond in any way.

Fullmetal's priceless reaction makes Havoc burst out laughing, and he is shortly joined by Alphonse, who cannot hold it in any longer either.

"We got you good, Chief!" he says while he cackles. Ed finally breaks out of his shocked state and looks enraged.

"It was _you?!_"

"You didn't look back once!" He starts slapping the ground as he continues to laugh.

"_THAT'S _what you've been whispering to me this whole time?!" he snarls as he throttles Havoc by the neck.

"Yup, the same thing over and over. Lucky that he thought he heard me say 'Neil', huh, Al?" he chokes out, still grinning madly.

"YOU were in on this too, Al?!"

The armor nods back. "He wanted to get you back for the pranks you've been pulling in Colonel Mustang's office lately. And, frankly, this was going to work better than a normal jump scare," he explains once his own echo-y laughing dies down.

"You know what the worst part of this prank is?" Ed seethes after a moment of silence.

"What?"

"THE COOKIE WASN'T EVEN THAT GOOD!"

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><p><strong>Be grateful you don't have brothers and coworkers who do stuff like this to you. XD<strong>

**I'm reposting all my one-shots, one a day, as a collection on Wattpad. If you look on there in a few weeks, they'll all be there, and you can just cruise through all of them in one shot without my annoying ANs. XD**

**K bai!**


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